Predictive validity evidence of Yes-No Angoff standard setting in a Pre-Clinical medical school curriculum.

Background: Standard setting plays a critical role in determining student outcomes by defining the level of biomedical knowledge required to be considered competent. This is especially important for accurately classifying medical students as ready (or not) to progress through the pre-clinical curriculum. In multiple-choice medical knowledge exams, the Yes-No Angoff method may be used for setting passing scores.

Iterative Catalyst-Controlled Diastereoselective Matteson Homologations Enable the Selective Synthesis of Benzestrol Isomers.

We report the development of an iterative Matteson homologation reaction with catalyst-controlled diastereoselectivity through the design of a new catalyst. This reaction was applied to the selective synthesis of each stereoisomer of benzestrol, a bioactive compound with estrogenic activity featuring three contiguous stereocenters. The different stereoisomers were assayed to determine their binding affinity for the estrogen receptor α (ERα), and the absolute configuration of the compound having uniquely high activity was determined.

Purines and Adenosine Receptors in Osteoarthritis.

OA is a common and debilitating condition that restricts mobility and diminishes the quality of life. Recent work indicates that the generation of adenosine at the cell surface is an important mediator of chondrocyte homeostasis, and topical application of adenosine in a slow-release form (liposomes) can halt the progression of OA and diminish the pain associated with OA. Here, we review the evidence indicating that adenosine, acting at A receptors, plays a critical role in endogenous and exogenous treatment and reversal of OA.

A Review of Continuous Quality Improvement Processes at Ten Medical Schools.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education now expects all allopathic medical schools to develop and adhere to a documentable continuous quality improvement (CQI) process. Medical schools must consider how to establish a defensible process that monitors compliance with accreditation standards between site visits. The purpose of this descriptive study is to detail how ten schools in the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) CQI Special Interest Group (SIG) are tackling practical issues of CQI development including establishing a CQI office, designating faculty and staff, charging a CQI committee, choosing software for data management, if schools are choosing formalized CQI models, and other considerations.

Substituting ground woody plants for cottonseed hulls in kid goat feedlot diets: growth performance and blood serum chemistry.

Boer × Spanish kid goats (n = 48) were used to evaluate effects of using ground woody products in feedlot diets on growth performance and blood serum chemistry. A completely randomized study design was used with 2 feeding periods (Period 1 = 70% concentrate, days 0 to 26; Period 2 = 86% concentrate, days 27 to 64). Goats were individually fed 1 of 6 diets that differed only by roughage source (n = 4 wether males and 4 females/treatment; initial BW = 22 ± 2 kg): cottonseed hulls (CSH; control) or ground wood consisting of redberry (RED), blueberry (BLUE), one-seed (ONE), or eastern red cedar (ERC) Juniperus spp.

Assessment of Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Bone Marrow Aspirate From Human Calcaneus.

Bone marrow aspirates (BMAs), owing to their innate osteogenic potential, are well-documented supplements to osteoconductive and/or osteoinductive materials. The calcaneal body provides foot and ankle surgeons a convenient harvest site with low morbidity and minimal cost. In the present study, we sought to identify and characterize multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in BMAs harvested from the human calcaneal body.

Combined use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound and rhBMP-2 to enhance bone formation in a rat model of critical size defect.

Background: Bone repair is regulated by biological factors and the local mechanical environment. We hypothesize that the combined use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) will synergistically or additively enhance bone regeneration in a model simulating the more difficult scenarios in orthopaedic traumatology.

Methods: Femoral defects in rats were replaced with absorbable collagen sponges carrying rhBMP-2 (0, 1.

LINDA - a solution-focused low-intensity intervention aimed at improving health behaviors of young females: a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Background: We aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an individualized, long-term support lifestyle counseling approach in promoting healthy physical activity, improving dietary and sleeping behaviors, and preventing weight gain in young females. The counseling approach's intensity was designed to be low enough to be implementable in primary health care.

Methods: Young women (n = 3,059, age at baseline 17-21 years) attending a population-based human papilloma virus vaccination trial (clinicaltrials.

[Update on Current Care guidelines: obesity (children)].

Childhood obesity is an increasing health problem. There may be possibilities to prevent obesity in childhood, and efficient interventions to treat obese children have been published. Local and regional strategies to prevent and to treat childhood obesity are needed.

Healing of rat femoral segmental defect with bone morphogenetic protein-2: a dose response study.

Objective: Use of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) is becoming a common clinical approach to enhance bone repair. There is little or no information in the literature on the dose of rhBMP-2 required for effective healing of critical-sized defects such as those associated with trauma. In this study, we used a segmental defect model to assess the dose response of rhBMP-2 using quantitative and qualitative endpoints.

Parental eating attitudes and indicators of healthy eating in a longitudinal randomized dietary intervention trial (the STRIP study).

Objective: To examine the effects of child-oriented dietary intervention on parental eating attitudes and dietary behaviour.

Design: In the prospective, randomized Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project for Children (the STRIP study), a cohort of Finnish families took part in a nutritional intervention trial focused on the quality of their children's fat intake since the age of 8 months. Health-related and hedonic eating attitudes of the parents were measured after 10 years of dietary intervention using a validated Health and Taste Attitude Scales (HTAS) questionnaire (n 660).

Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and cell-to-cell communication in bone marrow stromal cells.

Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is an established therapy for fracture repair and has been used widely in the clinics, but its underlying mechanism of action remains unclear. The aim of the current research was to determine the effect of LIPUS on gap junctional cell-to-cell intercellular communication in rat bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) in vitro and to determine whether the ability of BMSCs to communicate by gap junctions would affect their response to LIPUS. Single or daily-multiple LIPUS treatment at 1.

Osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow stromal cells by various intensities of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound.

Bone growth and repair are under the control of biochemical and mechanical signals. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) stimulation at 30mW/cm(2) is an established, widely used and FDA approved intervention for accelerating bone healing in fractures and non-unions. Although this LIPUS signal accelerates mineralization and bone regeneration, the actual intensity experienced by the cells at the target site might be lower, due to the possible attenuation caused by the overlying soft tissue.

Three factor eating questionnaire-R18 as a measure of cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating in a sample of young Finnish females.

Background: The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire -R18 (TFEQ-R18), a measure of eating behaviour, and to evaluate cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating in a sample of adolescent and young adult females of different weights.

Methods: Subjects were 2 997 females, aged 17 to 20 years, who participated in a phase III human papillomavirus vaccination trial in Finland in 2004 - 2009.Self-administered questionnaires and weight and height measurements were used.

Osmoregulated periplasmic glucans of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium are required for optimal virulence in mice.

We purified osmoregulated periplasmic glucans (OPGs) from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and found them to be composed of 100 % glucose with 2-linked glucose as the most abundant residue, with terminal glucose, 2,3-linked and 2,6-linked glucose also present in high quantities. The two structural genes for OPG biosynthesis, opgG and opgH, form a bicistronic operon, and insertion of a kanamycin resistance gene cassette into this operon resulted in a strain devoid of OPGs. The opgGH mutant strain was impaired in motility and growth under low osmolarity conditions.

Stereoselective synthesis of 3-alkyl-2-aryltetrahydrofuran-4-ols: total synthesis of (+/-)-paulownin.

A formal [3 + 2]-cycloaddition involving the Lewis acid mediated reaction of alpha-silyloxy aldehydes and styrenes to afford 3-alkyl-2-aryltetrahydrofuran-4-ols has been developed. This methodology was applied to the total synthesis of the naturally occurring furofuran lignan (+/-)-paulownin.

A general approach to 3-n-butyl-5-alkylindolizidines: total synthesis of (-)-indolizidine 195B.

Indolizidine type alkaloids have been attractive synthetic targets due to their biological activity. The total synthesis of (-)-indolizidine 195B via a general route, which could potentially be used to prepare other indolizidine alkaloids such as (-)-gephyrotoxin 223AB and (-)-myrmicarin 237A, is described.

New access to indolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids from an enantiopure proline: total syntheses of (-)-lentiginosine and (1R,2R,7aR)-dihydroxypyrrolizidine.

A new approach to the synthesis of indolizidine and pyrrolizidine skeletons is reported. (-)-Lentiginosine and (1R,2R,7aR)-dihydroxypyrrolizidine have both been synthesized in 13 steps from di-O-isopropylidene-d-mannitol. The common key intermediate is (-)-dihydroxyproline benzyl ester 10.

General synthesis of pyrroloquinolizidines: synthesis of an unnatural homologue of the pyrroloindolizidine myrmicarin alkaloid 215B.

A general synthesis approach to pyrroloquinolizidines (3,4,5,5a,6,7,8-heptahydropyrrolo[2,1,5-de]quinolizines) via a münchnone 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is reported. The approach was applied to the synthesis of an unnatural pyrroloquinolizidine homologue of myrmicarin 215B.

Increased aortic intima-media thickness in 11-year-old healthy children with persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae seropositivity.

Objective: The relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn) infection and arterial measures of preclinical atherosclerosis has remained controversial. Because atherogenesis begins in early life, we examined whether carotid and aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) and brachial artery endothelial function are associated with Cpn seropositivity in children.

Methods And Results: Cpn-specific IgG and IgA antibodies were assessed by enzyme immunoassay in 199 healthy children followed-up annually from 7 to 11 years of age.

Weight gain since infancy and prepubertal body dissatisfaction.

Objective: To investigate whether body dissatisfaction at prepuberty is associated with preceding changes in relative weight since infancy.

Design: A longitudinal cohort study. Follow-up of weight and height from age 7 months to 8 years; evaluation of body dissatisfaction at age 8 years.

Serum lipid profiles poorly correlate with Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, and cytomegalovirus seropositivity in prospectively followed-up healthy children.

Objective: Chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn), Helicobacter pylori (Hp), and herpes virus infections have been associated with atherogenic serum lipid profile and an excess of cardiovascular events in adults. Because mechanisms leading to atherosclerosis are active since early childhood, we examined whether Cpn, Hp, or cytomegalovirus (CMV) seropositivity relates to serum lipid, lipoprotein, or apolipoprotein concentrations in children. We also looked for factors increasing probability of Cpn seropositivity in children.

Stereoselective synthesis of 3-hydroxyproline benzyl esters from N-protected beta-aminoaldehydes and benzyl diazoacetate.

The synthesis of a series of 3-hydroxyproline benzyl esters from alpha-alkyl and alpha-alkoxy N-protected aminoaldehydes with benzyl diazoacetate is described. Aldehydes with alpha-alkyl substituents afforded prolines as a single diastereomer with a trans-cis relative configuration in 14-77%. An alpha-tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy aminoaldehyde afforded a proline as a single diastereomer with a trans-trans relative configuration in 37% yield.